Water infrastructure inspection with ROVs: the solution for Switzerland's alpine and natural lakes
Switzerland has hundreds of dams, water intakes, penstocks and hydroelectric plants spread across the Alps and the country's major natural lakes. Keeping these structures safe and efficient requires periodic inspection of their submerged parts — an operation that, with traditional methods, involves high costs, long timeframes and significant risk to personnel.
The limits of traditional methods
Underwater inspection of a dam, a water intake or a boat hull is still often entrusted to professional divers or, in the most critical cases, to partially draining the reservoir. In alpine lakes this means working in cold, murky and deep water, often with poor visibility and currents generated by the discharge of hydroelectric plants. These conditions lengthen intervention times, increase insurance and safety costs, and in many cases force a temporary halt to plant operations.
The ROV as an inspection tool
Professional-grade ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) offer a faster, safer and more cost-effective alternative. A vehicle such as the CHASING M2 PRO, for example, features an 8 vectored-thruster layout that provides full omnidirectional movement — lateral movement, 360° rotation and tilting up to ±90° — allowing the operator to approach joints, cracks and irregular surfaces without having to constantly reposition the vehicle, as would be necessary with divers.
The built-in 4K, 12-megapixel camera with Sony CMOS sensor and electronic image stabilisation (EIS), combined with 4000-lumen LED lighting, makes it possible to document even the finest details of a crack in concrete or corroded weld in high definition, even in the low-visibility conditions typical of alpine waters. An operating range of up to 150 metres depth and a tether of up to 200 metres cover almost all operational needs at Swiss hydroelectric reservoirs, while the hybrid power system — a hot-swappable 300 Wh battery or shore-based power supply for unlimited runtime — allows extended inspections without repeatedly having to bring the vehicle back to the surface.
Concrete applications on Swiss lakes
In the Swiss alpine and lake context, these tools are used in several areas:
Dams and hydroelectric plants — checking the condition of the dam face, looking for cracks, and inspecting water-intake screens and diversion tunnels, without needing to drain the reservoir or interrupt production.
Penstocks and water conveyance works — visual inspection of submerged sections that are difficult to reach, to identify corrosion, deposits or structural damage before they become critical.
Bridge piers and submerged structures — periodic verification of the submerged foundations of bridges and footbridges over alpine rivers and canals.
Marinas and lakeside jetties — inspection of piers, moorings and boat hulls on Lake Lugano, Lake Zurich, Lake Geneva, Lake Lucerne and Lake Thun, where the tourist season demands quick, non-invasive interventions.
Why operators and engineers are convinced
Compared with a traditional dive, an ROV inspection dramatically reduces the risk to personnel, avoiding dives in cold, deep water with limited visibility. Intervention times are shorter, since the safety and decompression procedures required for divers are not needed, and the high-definition video documentation obtained can be archived, compared over time and shared with regulatory bodies or insurers, offering a level of traceability that human inspection can rarely match with the same consistency.
For hydroelectric plant operators, municipalities, hydraulic engineering firms and research institutes active on alpine lakes, a professional ROV therefore represents not just an inspection tool, but a genuine investment in the safety and maintenance planning of Switzerland's water infrastructure.